- "Ghost, Soap, Rudy, and Alejandro's Los Vaqueros pursue Hassan under the cartel's protection. Mexican Army troops in the pocket of the cartel intervene."
- — Mission Briefing
Cartel Protection is the sixth mission featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.
Characters[]
- Johnny "Soap" MacTavish (playable)
- Simon "Ghost" Riley
- Alejandro Vargas
- Rodolfo Parra
- Phillip Graves
- Rodriguez (K.I.A.)
- Sanchez (K.I.A.)
- Núñez
- El Sin Nombre (mentioned)
- Kate Laswell (cutscene)
- Shepherd (cutscene)
- Hassan Zyani (mentioned)
Plot[]
Hassan is heading to Las Almas under cartel protection after he fled from Alejandro and Rodolfo at the US/Mexico Border. Although Hassan's possibly moving missiles towards the USA, the team doesn't know how many he has and his targets. Soap and Ghost head to Las Almas to meet with the Mexican Special Forces. To give them support without starting a war in Mexico, General Shepherd sent Phillip Graves and Shadow Company to assist.
Soap and Ghost land at Las Almas and are greeted by Alejandro as he led them to a jeep with Rodolfo as the driver. While driving through the streets, Alejandro explains life in Las Almas, the problems with the cartel and their leader - El Sin Nombre, as well as people like himself being called Los Vaqueros.
Los Vaqueros and TF-141 arrive at a village that's possibly holding Hassan. Soap, Ghost, and Alejandro sweep through the village while neutralizing any cartel members defending the area. After clearing most of the village, the trio head to the last house and search Hassan. While they haven't found him, they found a Quds Force flag on the wall, showing that Hassan was here before the cartel move him to another area. Suddenly, Rodolfo alerted the trio that the Mexican Army, paid by the cartel, is arriving as Soap, Ghost, and Alejandro attack the army to cover Rodolfo and Los Vaqueros as they escape. Eventually, the Mexican Army throws tear gas into the building, forcing the trio to escape through the window.
Soap, Ghost, Alejandro, and the remaining Vaqueros head down the hill while fighting off the Mexican Army. After jumping a gap, the trio and Rodriguez keep moving until they heard an enemy helicopter, forcing them to hold their ground and eliminate the Mexican soldiers before the head up the hill and down the ledges of a cliff as they see the bridge for extraction, with Rodriguez unable to contact anyone for help. While the four carefully shimmies across a narrow ledge, an enemy sniper fires at them and shot Rodriguez, causing him to fall to his death. Thanks to Alejandro eliminating the sniper, Soap and Ghost make it across and follow Alejandro. Unfortunately, the trio reach a dead end and with the Mexican Army firing at their location, they have to jump off into the water.
Now in the water, Soap, Ghost, and Alejandro proceed to swim to the bridge while Graves' voice crackles over radio. The Mexican Army found them and the trio defend in the water as they kill the soldiers. As they reach the bridge, Mexican reinforcements and vehicles arrive on the bridge and while the trio try to survive, Graves contacts them as Shadow Company's Gunship took out all hostiles. After finding a vehicle for extract, Graves informs them on Hassan's possible location as Soap, Ghost, and Alejandro drive off to another cartel land with a compound to find Hassan.
Weapon Loadout[]
| Starting loadout |
|---|
| Found in level |
|---|
| Unobtainable |
|---|
 Chimera (used by Ghost)  M13B (used by Rodolfo)  BAS-P (used by Alejandro)  Riot Shield (used by the Mexican Army) |
Transcript[]
- Main article: Cartel Protection/Transcript
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The mission was originally revealed as "Backstabbed", which is also its internal file name. Interestingly the track Backstabbed is played during the mission.
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